


he's a serpent underneath

by sunset_oasis



Series: Rhythms of Love [21]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Era, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-02
Updated: 2017-09-02
Packaged: 2018-12-23 02:35:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11980272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunset_oasis/pseuds/sunset_oasis
Summary: Percy Weasley planned things. Meticulously. From the study schedule of next week to the detailed steps he wanted to take in the next few years in order to climb higher and higher in the Ministry after graduation. The former was expected, the latter a little too ambitious that it scared Terence. Well, scared him slightly.It scared him a hell lot more to find himself being fascinated by it. Because Gryffindors weren't supposed be fascinating, weren't supposed to make Terence want to dig deeper to know more about to understand and yet –





	he's a serpent underneath

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

 

Terence Higgs sat next to Percy Weasley in potions the day after Marcus told him that Malfoy kid would be replacing him as seeker.

 

* * *

 

In truth, Terence  _had_  thought about leaving the team to focus on schoolwork more because he wanted to aim for the curse breaker job at Gringotts after graduation, though he hadn't planned on leaving  _this_  early. He'd thought about training some potential new seeker this year, who could take over the position in his the seventh year. Not … just suddenly being replaced by a  _second year._

Well, at least Marcus had looked a little apologetic about it when he told Terence the news. And even Terence had to admit that free brand new broomsticks had their appeal.

"I think we should meet sometime this week to discuss the project," Weasley said after potions class.

"Sure," Terence agreed. While being paired up for potions projects with Gryffindors wasn't exactly the most fun thing in the world, he was practical enough to know that being paired with this particular Gryffindor with excellent grades wouldn't do that much harm. "How's Saturday morning?"

"I thought the Slytherin team practices at that time," Weasley said, a little surprised.

"How the hell do _you_  know about that?"

"Oliver keeps a time-chart in our dorm showing the practice times of all teams," Weasley rolled his eyes. "Hard not to know when I could see it every single day I walk into the room."

Terence guessed that he really shouldn't be surprised.

 

* * *

 

Percy Weasley was surprisingly more interesting than he looked on the surface.

Well, Weasley was of course still a total bookworm and the perfect student always getting O's as grades, and sometimes his insistence on reading through all pages of the textbook carefully bored Terence a bit. But what's most interesting about him was that despite Weasley being a Gryffindor (because where else would anyone from that family go to), and despite his obvious Ravenclaw-ness, there was a Slytherin underneath the exterior of Weasley.

Percy Weasley planned things. Meticulously. From the study schedule of next week to the detailed steps he wanted to take in the next few years in order to climb higher and higher in the Ministry after graduation. The former was expected, the latter a little too ambitious that it scared Terence. Well, scared him  _slightly_.

It scared him a hell lot more to find himself being  _fascinated_  by it. Because Gryffindors weren't supposed be fascinating, weren't supposed to make Terence want to  _dig deeper_  to  _know more about_  to  _understand_  and yet –

"Something wrong, Higgs?" Weasley raised his head from the textbook with a small frown, his eyebrows furrowing and suddenly Terence could see Weasley's face clearly, more clearly than he wanted.

More clearly than he'd  _thought_  he wanted, at least.

Terence stared right into Weasley's sharp blue eyes behind the rimmed glasses, a blue that kind of looked like ocean. And while Terence had always felt that Weasley's glasses made him look nerdy (which, Terence supposed, probably had to do with the fact that Weasley was, in fact, nerdy), at this close distance it suddenly felt different, felt more professional, more ambitious, more  _powerful_ , and Terence felt himself unable to pull his attention away.

But he forced himself to anyway.

"Oh, uh," he said, swallowing and trying to figure out if his voice sounded normal as he pointed to his essay, "is this supposed to be counter-clockwise stirring after adding the boomslang skin?"

 

* * *

 

Terence kept his emotions bottled deep and always kept a little distance after that. Even if deep down, a part of him still knew that he was continuing stealing little glances when he thought Weasley wasn't looking. Sometimes he wanted to talk to his friends about it, but he could never bring himself to admit to his fellow housemates that he was helplessly attracted to a  _Gryffindor_.

It was almost a relief as the end of the project drew nearer. Maybe then his little obsession would be over, and he could forget about Weasley, and he wouldn't have to work in close distance with him anymore.

It sounded almost ideal.

_Almost_.

 

* * *

 

"Well, this is it, then," Weasley said.

"Yeah," Terence replied, his throat feeling dry. "Good work this term."

"You too," Weasley flashed him a smile, and the way his lips pulled up seemed to pull at the strings in Terence's heart too. He suddenly realized that he would have no excuse to study with Weasley anymore now that the project had ended, and probably even no excuse to chat with him either and that was certainly far, far from ideal.

"Maybe we could hang out sometimes," he blurted out, feeling outrageously impulsive that he seemed the Gryffindor of the two, knowing he would probably regret this a few seconds later when Weasley would probably looked at him like he was crazy. "Go to Hogsmeade or something."

Terence didn't have the time to regret anything as Percy Weasley's smile subtly turned into an overly sly smirk, his ocean blue eyes brightening up a bit, and drawled, "Why, Higgs, I thought you'd never ask."

 

**Author's Note:**

> find me on [tumblr](http://ff-sunset-oasis.tumblr.com)


End file.
